


The Red River of Blood

by f1fan (lifeschoices)



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Gen, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 21:53:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4641555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeschoices/pseuds/f1fan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"If it had happened 200m earlier, I'm not standing here now, I would be with 300 [kph] in Eau Rouge." - Sebastian Vettel after his tyre blowout during the Belgian Grand Prix.</p><p>What if it had?  </p><p>THIS NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENED, THANK GOD.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Red River of Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Please read the warning... I also mention Jules in here - so if this will upset you, then don't go on. :)
> 
> I literally have no idea where this came from, and I don't blame anyone if they think I'm weird and twisted, because I'm sure my imagination must be to come up with this.
> 
> I'm just glad Sebastian is OK, and he has every right to be livid at Pirelli.

“Two laps to go, Sebastian. Two laps to go,” his engineer informed him over the radio, as he straightened his car out of the Bus Stop and headed over the line towards La Source. He could still see Romain in his mirrors, and he knew should he make a single mistake, the hard work of stretching the stint to try and get a podium would be for nothing.

On the twenty-eighth lap of their use, his medium tyres, whilst more worn than the ones on the Lotus just behind him, still felt good. There was no concern that they would hit the cliff before the end of the race. He was still maintaining the final podium place, but Romain was closing in. The Frenchman hadn’t chanced an overtake so far, but with its fresher tyres Sebastian had to be on his guard.

He focussed on braking smoothly for the first corner so that he would not lock up the tyres and give away yet more time to the charging Lotus behind him. It was in DRS range, so Seb knew Romain would try something on the Kemmel straight, but the Ferrari engine was powerful, and the car aerodynamically efficient. He just had to put his car in the right place at the right time, make it as wide as possible, and make this strategy work.

He got good drive out of La Source, with no wheel spin, so in a blink of an eye he was rolling up through the gears and up the hill to the famous Eau Rouge corner. The black and gold Lotus was taking a slightly wider line through the first corner, so Seb knew he had gained a tenth or two. It may have not been much compared to the five second gap Romain had closed, but he knew that in this sport, fractions of a second could make the difference.

The car behind him was becoming smaller and smaller in his mirrors, and Seb knew that he probably wouldn’t have to defend too hard along the Kemmel Straight and into Les Combes. Now he just had to focus on swooping through Eau Rouge and losing as little time as possible. The grid places flew by as a mere blur, but Seb wasn’t looking at them – all that he was thinking about was the upcoming corners and the rest of the lap.

He was just a split second from mounting the first kerb when something snapped. He had no time to react. As he went through Radillon, his entire right rear tyre shredded itself to pieces. Going at 200 miles per hour through a corner with three wheels meant staying on the track was impossible. He found himself going sideways towards the tyre barrier. At least, he thought he was going towards the tyre barrier. He had braked and locked his tyres, sending up puffs of smoke which he couldn’t see through.

It all happened so quickly, yet to Seb it felt as if each moment was dragged out. He braced himself for the inevitable impact with the barrier, which was looming ever closer. The speedometer in his Ferrari read 197 miles per hour, and it was going up. The gravel did nothing to halt the car, in fact, it was speeding it up.

Seb knew he didn’t have much time. But he had already worked one thing out. His tyre had failed.

With this thought, his world went black.

The marshals were quick to react, as were the commentators, the latter saying how the explosion was most probably caused by wear since Vettel had been on them since lap 14. Said driver sat in his Ferrari, slumped forward. The marshals could only see this because they were right next to him; the overhead camera could only see the rear wing of the Ferrari, such was the force of the impact.

The safety car was immediately deployed, shortly followed by the red flag and the ending of the race. The results were taken from the end of Lap 41, and so Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton were celebrating yet another victory.

Except they weren’t. Word had gotten out about the tyre failure, and whilst everyone made their way past the scene of the accident, they had to be careful to avoid the rubber strewn around everywhere so that they wouldn’t get a puncture. Everyone asked their respective teams if Vettel was ok. None of the engineers could give their driver an answer.

“What the hell happened?” Kimi screamed down his radio. “Why isn’t he out yet?”

“Hs tyre exploded through Eau Rouge, Kimi,” Dave Greenwood replied. He chose not to answer the second question.

Everyone came back into the pits not wanting to carry on the procedure, least of all the top three. Romain no longer cared that it was his first podium for nearly two years, he only wanted to know if Sebastian was okay. There were muted whispers of how this couldn’t happen again, both the tyre explosion and the crash itself. Jules Bianchi was the name at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

Not again, they all pleaded with the various racing gods. Please not again.

No champagne was sprayed on the podium, and the regular interviews were not conducted. The crowd merely applauded politely instead of cheering like they normally would. The drivers, far from being happy at conquering the beast that was Spa, looked like they would rather be anywhere else but here. No-one spoke, everyone’s faces told everyone else what they needed to know.

Inside the press pen, all the drivers only had one thing on their minds, one prayer on their lips.

“We all hope he’s OK.”

“Seb is a fighter, he will get through this.”

The rest of their answers were monosyllabic and generic. No one had words, and the people who were around last year at Suzuka (that is, everyone except from Will, Roberto, Felipe Nasr and Max) were again plunged into the same pit of uncertainty and desperation hoping that their colleague was alright. As for the aforementioned four, they were in shock. Nothing in their karting or F1 career to date could have prepared them for this. Of course, they were there at the tribute for Jules, but not at the actual grand prix, in the aftermath, when one just wishes that they can go home.

But the world of motorsport never worked that way. Every single one of the drivers was furious at Pirelli, and they had no qualms in expressing their anger. Many broadcasting channels were forced to apologise for “any bad language you may have picked up on,” saying that it was “understandable given the circumstances.”

As the evening wore on and darkness fell, the stream of news from the hospital seemed to get worse with the light of the receding day. The doctors were increasingly pessimistic about Sebastian’s hope for survival, saying that it would be out of the question for him to recover fully.

They weren’t treating it as if he survived, it was a matter of when he would lose the fight. He had severe head and brain injuries, as well as broken bones and internal bleeding from the crash.

At 9.02 pm, in the nearby local hospital at Spa, Sebastian Vettel succumbed to the laws of nature. Biology had once again lost the fight against Physics, and F1 had lost two drivers in as many months.

Two weeks later, a silence was held for the Ferrari driver at the team’s home race of Monza. There was only one red car on the grid this race. The various TV screens were replaying some of Seb’s best moments as an F1 driver, recapping his four world championships, and how he changed the Scuderia for the better in the all too short time he was there.

Once again, the drivers were forced to put everything aside, close the visor, and race. Once again, the race was chaotic and full of surprises. Once again, a Ferrari driver won.

“For you, Sebastian. Always for you.”

 

Sebastian Vettel

3rd July 1987 – 23rd August 2015

Forever remembered as a legend

**Author's Note:**

> THIS NEVER HAPPENED. THE TYRE EXPLODED ON THE KEMMEL STRAIGHT.
> 
> That's just to make it clear. Thoughts appreciated!


End file.
